When planting your garden spacing can be one of the hardest things to put into action. Not only do most plants follow different spacing guidelines, but when dealing with tiny seeds or plant starts it can be really easy to underestimate the size and space needed for mature plants.
But plant spacing in the garden is very important and how much room you do- or don’t- give your plants can mean the difference between an okay garden and a great one!
This site contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission. Please see my disclosure page for more information about cookies collected and our privacy policy.
So let’s explore why garden spacing is so important, what it means, and I’ll even give you a handy vegetable plant spacing chart to help you keep it all straight!
Ultimate Guide to Garden Spacing for Fruits and Vegetables
When it comes to garden spacing it’s not quite as simple as one measurement. There’s actually a lot of gray area when it comes to planting out in your garden. And in this guide I’ll give you the general guidelines for spacing your vegetables and tell you how you can maximize your space- and when you can ignore some of these guidelines altogether!
What Does Spacing Mean?
So first off, what do we mean when we say garden spacing? It means 2 things actually:
The space between each PLANT.
AND
The space between each ROW.
Depending on the type of gardening you do- row, raised bed, square foot, or other- the recommended spacing may change.
Why is Garden Spacing Important?
As I mentioned, good spacing in the garden can mean the difference between a great garden, and a not-so-great one. So why is garden spacing so important?
Prevent Disease
First- and probably one of the most important reasons for good spacing- is that it helps prevent disease and keeps your crops healthier.
When your plants are crowded together they don’t get the airflow they need to dry after a rain or heavy dew. This moisture can lead to fungal infections in your plants, which then affects your harvest and health of the entire garden.
Things like late blight will be much more devastating if your crops are planted very close together.
Room for Roots and Growth
Your plants will also have enough room to spread their roots and grow to their full potential when there is proper spacing.
They won’t be competing for root space, water, soil nutrients, or sun if they have enough space.
Ease of Harvest
And finally, if you’ve ever tried to harvest in a garden that is crowded you know how hard it can be! It’s like a jungle and you end up stepping on plants and vines or missing ripe fruits because you just can’t access the plants easily.
Proper spacing makes it easier to reach all places in the garden, which means an easier time for you and no lost fruits!
Vegetable Plant Spacing Chart:
So what are the most commonly recommended vegetable plant spacing guidelines?
Use the following chart to help you correctly space the plants in your garden. Please note that if you are using raised beds (which are normally 4ft or less wide), then you won’t have to worry about the row spacing, only the space between crops.
And keep reading below for ways to maximize space and when you can get away with planting a little closer!
| Crop: | Spacing Between Crops | Spacing Between Rows |
| Amaranth | 1-2 ft | 1-2 ft |
| Arugula | 3-4 inches | 1-1.5 ft |
| Asparagus | 12-18 inches | 2-3 ft |
| Basil | 12 inches | 1.5-2 ft |
| Beans | 2-6 inches | 2 ft |
| Beets | 3-4 inches | 1-1.5 ft |
| Broccoli | 12-18 inches | 3 ft |
| Brussels Sprouts | 24 inches | 2-3 ft |
| Cabbage | 9-12 inches | 2-3 ft |
| Carrots | 1-2 inches | 12 inches |
| Cauliflower | 18-24 inches | 2-3 ft |
| Celery | 12-18 inches | 2 ft |
| Chard | 6-12 inches | 12-18 inches |
| Corn | 12 inches | 3 ft |
| Cucumber | 12-24 inches | 2 ft |
| Eggplant | 18-24 inches | 3 ft |
| Garlic | 3-6 inches | 12-18 inches |
| Kale | 12-18 inches | 2 ft |
| Kohlrabi | 6 inches | 12 inches |
| Leek | 4-6 inches | 12 inches |
| Lettuce- head | 12 inches | 12 inches |
| Lettuce– leaf | 2-3 inches | 6-12 inches |
| Melons | 12-24 inches | 4-6 ft |
| Okra | 12 inches | 3 ft |
| Onion | 4-6 inches | 12 inches |
| Peas | 2-3 inches | 2 ft |
| Peppers | 12-18 inches | 2 ft |
| Potatoes | 12 inches | 2-3 ft |
| Radish | 1-4 inches | 6 inches |
| Spinach | 2-3 inches | 12-18 inches |
| Summer Squash | 24 inches | 3-4 ft |
| Sweet Potatoes | 12-18 inches | 3-4 ft |
| Tomatillos | 24-36 inches | 3-4 ft |
| Tomatoes | 24-36 inches | 3-4 ft |
| Turnips | 2-4 inches | 12 inches |
| Winter Squash | 24-36 inches | 3-5 ft |
How to Increase Space in the Garden
So now that you know the average garden plant spacing guidelines, let’s talk about when they might now apply and how you can get more out of your garden space.
Vertical Growing
First up is growing vertically. Using things like stakes, trellises, and fencing can help you maximize your space by using the vertical space instead of the horizontal space.
This frees up soil space for growing smaller crops below or spacing the next row closer.
Vertical gardening is most beneficial for vining crops such as cucumbers, winter squash and peas.
Read my article on Vertical Gardening for more information.
Double Rows
If you have a traditional row garden, try planting double rows instead of single. Plant 2 rows of the same crop close together with a larger space between each double rows.
This works great because you can still easily harvest both sides of the double rows without stepping on your crops.
Double rows work great for things like beans, radishes, carrots, and other root crops.
Pruning
Pruning can also help you keep your crops more manageable and help them to take up less space per plant.
Tomatoes especially can benefit from pruning. By removing the suckers and leaving just one main stem you can reduce the overall footprint of each plant by a lot.
Pinching growing tips off of melon, cucumber, or squash vines can also help keep them from taking over more space than you want.
Compact Varieties
There’s a ton of varieties out there that are meant for smaller gardens. Choose a compact, bush variety of squash instead of a sprawling one.
Choose determinate tomatoes over indeterminate.
See if you can find dwarf varieties of your favorite crops.
Square Foot Gardening
And finally, square foot gardening. With square foot gardening you can basically throw all general recommendations out the window because it has it’s own rules and recommendations for spacing.
Square foot gardening is much more intensive and crops are grown more closely together compared to raised bed or row gardens.
More Gardening Help:
The Ultimate Guide to Companion Planting
How to Use Essential Oils in the Garden
How to Harden Off Plants Before Transplanting to the Garden
Can you tell me how to harvest and prepare amaranth. I have som volunteers in my yard from previous owner I think and would like to keep growing and using them
I can tell you, as I have had experience with it. It is a grain, so we scatter the seed. They will grow about four inches apart, but we always scatter much more seed than that. After that, amaranth tends to re-seed itself if some seed is left.
Harvesting is super easy. Choose a warm sunny day, not earlier than 10 a.m. (so the dew lifts off). When fully ripe, the seed will easily come away from the flower stalk. All I do is I put down a sheet or piece of newspaper, or a piece of cardboard with a crease in the middle. Shake the flower stalk, or brush it with your hand, over the sheet or paper. If it is ripe, the seeds come tumbling out. When you are done, you can pick out any debris and then pour it into a sack or glass jar, though I do not seal it tight until it has had further time to dry. The only drawback to amaranth is that the seeds are very small, so it takes a lot of plants and a lot of harvesting labor to get much. This is why the stuff we buy in stores is harvested by machines.
I have to say, after years of experimenting with spacing and getting very good results, I break many rules about spacing! If you see my garden, the first thing you will notice is that in general, plants are packed in very tightly, and you will see few weeds.
Bare ground is the enemy of sustainable farming and healthy soil. It is also the enemy of the gardener, who then has to spend many more hours weeding! I do no-till gardening, and I add LOTS of compost and composted manure. i never walk on my beds. I fork them, only. There are some vegetables I space even farther apart than recommended, for instance garlic. My garlic heads are twice the size of most of the gardeners around here, because I space them at 8 inches apart, but interplant other veg between them (or you could mulch). Broccoli, also, needs lots of space or it bolts! But for most, I give less space…even tomato plants… but I prune tomato plants at least weekly, I plant lettuce or other things beneath the tomatoes, and I can get up to 80-90 lbs of tomatoes per plant! Overall, I think I’m getting about four times the produce from the same square footage as the average gardener, so it is a lot less work for the amount of food… less watering, less weeding, no tilling, more pruning and trellising, more harvesting, and certainly more compost per square foot. Because the soil is healthy, the plants are healthy, so there are fewer pests, also. I know this sounds like I’m tooting my own horn, but I mentor young farmers, and they have noticed and asked questions about all of these things, after seeing the difference from other farms, so I try to share with others how I am doing things differently, and one of those things is spacing. We can have more veg, less work, and more carbon sequestration all at the same time, so play around with your spacing! Test it out for yourself and your conditions! My summer squash and zucchini are spaced only ONE foot apart!, but they are trellised on steel fencing post (T-posts) and pruned weekly. I have to plant fewer of them now, because I get too many fruit on them! I wish I could post some pictures so you could see.
I have a elongated flower bed(area) which measures about 138 inches. I am planting chocolate chip Bugleweed and need to know how many (plugs)? I need and also how far apart to I plant these. They grow to be 3 inches high and 12 inches wide. Please assist.